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6 days ago
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A Belgrade court has jailed the parents of a 13-year-old boy after he shot dead nine students and a security guard at an elementary school in Serbia’s capital last year.
The killings, on 3 May 2023, deeply shocked the Balkan state, where mass shootings have been rare despite high levels of gun ownership.
The trial was conducted solely against the teenager’s parents, Vladimir and Miljana Kecmanovic, as their son could not be criminally prosecuted due to his age.
Vladimir Kecmanovic was sentenced on Monday to 14 years and six months while Miljana Kecmanovic was jailed for three years, the Belgrade higher court said.
Prosecutors had argued the father had trained his son to shoot, had not properly secured his weapons and ammunition, and had allowed the boy to hide a handgun and 92 bullets in his backpack that he later used in the shooting.
“The accused, Vladimir Kecmanovic, was found guilty of committing the criminal offences of a grave offence against public safety and neglect and abuse of a minor. The accused, Miljana Kecmanovic, was found guilty of neglect and abuse of a minor,” the court said.
Miljana Kecmanovic was acquitted on charges of the unauthorised production, possession, carrying or trafficking of weapons.
The court also sentenced the instructor at the shooting range where, according to the indictment, Vladimir Kecmanovic took his son for target practice, to one year and three months in prison.
Both the prosecution and the defence have said they will appeal against the sentences.
The chief public prosecutor, Nenad Stefanović, announced an appeal for harsher sentences for the father and the shooting instructor, as well as against the dismissal of part of the indictment against the mother.
Lawyers for the parents and the shooting instructor also said they would appeal.
Ognjen Božović, who represented the families of the murdered children, said his clients were satisfied with the verdict. But, he added, there was no punishment that could bring justice or proper satisfaction to the families, as no one had been convicted for the massacre.
Family members of the murdered children who were at the sentencing were visibly shaken. A group of students left flowers in front of the courthouse and stood in silence for 10 minutes to honour the victims.
Ninela Radicevic, the mother of one of the murdered girls, said the parents of the victims had expected the verdict but wanted accountability for the shooting itself. The parents are pursuing five additional private civil lawsuits against the Kecmanovic family.
The teenage boy has been placed in a psychiatric institution. He was brought out for the first time in October to testify in the case against his parents.
Although the trial was held in a regular courthouse, the boy’s testimony on 8 October was heard in a high-security courtroom typically reserved for cases involving organised crime and war crimes.
The first-instance verdict against his parents was delivered publicly, though the 11-month trial was conducted behind closed doors. Afterwards, the court ordered Vladimir Kecmanovic to be returned to custody, where he has been held since shortly after the shootings; Miljana Kecmanovic remains free until the verdict becomes final.
Days after the attack, Serbia was rocked by another mass shooting when a 21-year-old armed with an automatic rifle killed nine people about 37 miles (60km) south of Belgrade.
This month, a court sentenced the attacker to 20 years in prison – the maximum penalty given his age.
The shootings sparked anti-government protests last year, which brought together tens of thousands of people demanding the resignation of some officials and an end to the glorification of violence and mafia culture in the media.
The government decided in September to designate 3-4 May as Days of Remembrance for the victims of mass shootings.
